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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Okonkwo bring back from the bush while Ezinma lays sick in Ekwefi's hut?
(a) Bananas to mix with palm oil, forming a paste which Ezinma can eat easily. This will help keep up her strength.
(b) Three small birds to offer as sacrifice to the gods, so Ezinma will get well.
(c) Soil from the bush to mix with water and form into mud which can be rubbed on Ezinma's body to bring down the fever.
(d) A bundle of medicinal plants, grasses, leaves, roots and barks.

2. How is the weather during the first growing season that Okonkwo starts share-cropping for Nwakibie?
(a) The best growing weather ever: yams flourish with the nightly rains and sunny days.
(b) The beginning of the season is poor weather for growing yams, but the second planting of the season grows huge yams, sweet and plump.
(c) Some good days, and some bad: the yams grow, but not to their potential. Some days were too hot and some rains too severe.
(d) The worst in memory: late rains and scorching sun kill the yams, then torrential downpours wash the seeds away.

3. What is the agreed upon bride-price for Akueke?
(a) Five bags of cowries and one hundred yam seeds
(b) A she-goat, a hen, and ten cowries
(c) Ten woven baskets of yams
(d) Twenty bags of cowries

4. Why is the big, ancient silk-cotton tree in the playground considered sacred?
(a) The tree is believed to have been the first tree in existence.
(b) The tree holds all the spirits of the men who died in wars since the beginning of time.
(c) The tree holds the spirits of all the ancestors of the clan.
(d) The spirits of good children waiting to be born live in the tree.

5. Nine out of ten of Ekwefi's children die in infancy. After the second death, Okonkwo goes to the medicine man to find out why this is happening. What explanation does the diviner give?
(a) The child is an agbanje, a wicked child that enters the mother's womb to be born again.
(b) Ekwefi is weak and should not become pregnant again.
(c) Ekwefi did not eat vegetable soup throughout her pregnancies.
(d) Ekwefi should just keep trying, and sooner or later a child would survive.

6. What does Okagbue, the medicine man, dig up from under the orange tree that makes the people of the village believe that Ezinma will live to adulthood?
(a) Ezinma's iyi-uwa, a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag which links Ezinma to the spirit world. It is believed that if the iyi-uwa is found and destroyed, Ezinma will not die.
(b) A basket of kola nuts which were buried when Ezinma was born to trapped evil spirits. It was supposed to be dug up after a time and burned, so the evil spirits would not kill Ezinma.
(c) The cloth which was used to clean Ezinma after she was born. It was buried after the birth as a good luck charm that would keep the infant safe from harm. After digging it up, the child was to be washed with it once again to stay safe.
(d) A sacred amulet that the priestess made for Ezinma the day she was born. Ezinma was to wear it around her neck until the day she died.

7. While talking with Okoye about the war, Unkona changes the subject to which topic?
(a) Farming
(b) Music
(c) Heavy rains
(d) Ancestral feasts

8. Why does Unkona change the subject to music when he and Oybe are discussing the impending war with the village of Mbaino?
(a) Unkona wants to stay home to take care of his yam harvest.
(b) Unkona knows he would have to leave his family to fight in the war.
(c) Unkona is afraid to think about people of his village being hurt.
(d) Unkona is a coward and can't stand the sight of blood.

9. Who is the powerful orator that informs the ten thousand men of the emergency facing the nine villages of Umuofia?
(a) Okoye
(b) Ogbuefi Ezeugo
(c) Nwoye
(d) Ogbuefi Udo

10. Anasi is Nwakibie's first wife, which makes her the ruler over the other wives of Nwakibie. She is the only wife who can wear her husband's titles. Where are the titles worn on Anasi?
(a) On a necklace.
(b) Tattooed on her upper arm.
(c) On an anklet.
(d) In a hair piece.

11. What is the emergency that the great orator announces at the meeting in the marketplace?
(a) The warriors of Mbaino raid one of the villages of Umuofia.
(b) The yam harvest of one of the village celebrities is stolen from his barn.
(c) The wife of Ogbuefi Udo is murdered in Mbaino when she goes to market.
(d) The powerful medicine woman of Umuofia dies during the night.

12. Under what circumstances will the people of Umuofia consult Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves?
(a) To find out if their wives are being faithful.
(b) To ask for wealth, prosperity, and many newborn sons.
(c) When they are followed by misfortune, when they have a dispute with their neighbors, to see their futures, and to talk to the spirits.
(d) To ask for a cure for a fatal disease.

13. One night, the storytelling of Okonkwo 's wives and children stops because the priestess, Chielo is shouting in a high-pitched voice. What does she tell Okonkwo?
(a) That Agbala wants to see all Okonkwo's wives
(b) That Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves wants to see Ezinma
(c) That Agbala needs to talk to Okonkwo
(d) That Agbala is putting a curse on Okonkwo's house

14. Who are the two groups of people who stand facing the elders at the ceremonial trial?
(a) One group is wrestlers from the nine villages, and the other group is judges.
(b) One group is the three oldest men from the village. The other group is their sons.
(c) One group is the twelve-year-old boys from the village. The other group is their fathers.
(d) One group is Mgbafo and her three brothers. The other group is her husband, Uzowulu, and his relatives.

15. What are the things that Okonkwo fears most?
(a) Failure, weakness, and himself.
(b) The forest and magic.
(c) Forces of nature.
(d) Evil and capricious gods.

Short Answer Questions

1. Okonkwo does not fear war. In the last war he fought, he brought home a souvenir which he drank palm-wine out of. What is this souvenir?

2. Why doesn't Okonkwo have any patience with his father?

3. What is the festival that gives thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and source of fertility?

4. How does Okonkwo react to the disastrous growing season that destroy all his yams and the yams of his people?

5. Okonkwo is very prosperous, owning a large compound with many huts, and an abundance of food. Ikemefuna is given to Okonkwo to live with him until the clan decides Ikemefuna's fate. How does Ikemefuna react to living with Okonkwo?

(see the answer keys)

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